The present invention relates to earth drilling machines in general, and in particular to modular earth drilling machines which can readily be assembled and disassembled to enhance mobility of the drilling machine. As used herein, the term "earth drilling machine" is intended to cover the entire range of machines for forming a borehole in an earth formation, including oil well drilling machines, water well drilling machines, and the like.
Portability is an important consideration in modern earth drilling machines. When excessive times are required for rigging and derigging a machine, productivity of the drilling machine is reduced and operating costs are increased unnecessarily. One class of modern drilling machines is intended to be transported over the highway on suitable trucks. With such drilling machines it is particularly important that the drilling machine be readily divided into a small number of modules, each of which is well suited for highway transportation.
To this end, some drilling machines have in the past included skid-mounted draw works. Such skid-mounted draw works are readily moved onto a truck for highway transport and then off of the truck at the drilling site for use with the drilling machine. In addition, in order to improve mobility of drilling machines, in the past one type of drilling machine has employed a drilling platform which is pivotably connected to a ground support structure by means of legs which are pivoted at top and bottom. Means such as winches have been provided to lift the drilling platform into an operating position in which the legs are vertically positioned, and to lower the drilling platform to reduce the height of the platform and thereby improve the mobility of the drilling machine.
The present invention is directed to an improved, modular, earth drilling machine which further reduces the time required to rig and derig the drilling machine at the drilling site, and which is well adapted for transport of the modules of the drilling machine by truck.